benedict iiekzog



(No Model.)

F. B. HERZOG.

AUDIBLE QUOTATION INDIGATING SYSTEM.

Patented Feb. 3, 1885.

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F. BENEDICT HERZOG OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

AUDlBLE QUOTATlON-lND-ICATING SYSTEM.

BPE-JIEIOATIUN forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,757, dated February 3, 1885.

Application filed January 8, 1855.

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, F. BENEDICT I-IERzoG, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York,

have invented a new and useful Audible Quotation-Indicating System, of which the following is a specification.

The present stock-telegraph system, by which a number of individuals or oilices are furnished with petroleum, grain, or other market quotations, involves such a cost of equipment and maintenance as to necessitate the charging of a large rental or subscription to each of its subscribers. It requires a circuit of its own, comprising several wires a separate and very expensive printing-instru- -ment or ticker for each subscriber, and

complicated and costly transmittingmachinery at the station from which the quotations are sent out, as well as the constant daily attendance of several operators to transmit the signals, and attend ants to keep the tickers in working order, supply them with paper, ink, &c., all of which items bring the cost of maintenance up to ahigh figure. A system, therefore, by which subscribers could be supplied with sto ck-quorations or the market-prices of any co mmoditics or other information without involving the use of such costly instruments and daily attendance is a very desirable thing; and it is the object of my'invention to produce such a system, and this I do by giving the quotations by means of audible signals easily recognizable by each subscriber, thereby being enabled to use simpler circuits, entirely dispensing with any type printing or recording instru ments, and otherwise reducing the expense so as to be able to furnish the desired information at a trifling rental as compared with the present necessarily high rates.

To obtain easily-recognizable audible signals, I make use of two or more classes of signals of radically different character. As types of such classes may be instanced single impulses or clicks and vibratory or buzz signals. The transmitting apparatus should be adapted to send both kinds of signals, made to follow each other in different conventional combinations prearranged to denote the desired facts, and. each recciving-instrumcnt in (No model.)

the circuit should be adapted in itself to reproduce and make audible and distinguishable both classes of signals.

In the drawing accompanying this specification I have represented myinvention as applied to a district-telegraph circuit such as now in use. The invention can, of course, be employed on a circuit built expressly for the purpose; but to avoid the necessity of building new line-circuits for thesystem, so as to cheapen the service to the utmost extent, itis preferred to apply it to district-telegraph, burglar-alarm, or other circuits already c011- structed for other purposes. This can be done, as will presently be explained, without interfering in the least with the ordinary opera tion of these circuits. I here remark, however, that the combination of instrumentalities by which I bring together the districttelegraph call system and my system into one and the same circuit is not here claimed, but has been made by me the subject, in part, of a separate application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 132,749, filed May 26, 1884.

The drawing,to which reference will now be made,represents a circuit comprising a nu mber of subscribers ofiices and furnished with the necessary apparatus for giving the quotations according to my invention.

A A A rep resent ordinary district-telegraph instruments,placed on the same circuit at the otiices. of different subscribers, and central station, the oiiice or headquarters where the signals are received,iu the usual manner. At each subscribers oiiice is placed in circuit a receiving device, 13, for rendering audible the signals indicating the quotations, This device, as shown, consists of a box containing an electromagnet, b, providedewith a diaphragmarmature, c, forming a telephonic receiver; but an ordinary telegraphsounder or any suitable sounding-instrument may be employed instead. To this box is also attached a single st-roke electric boll, O, which is also placed in circuit, and is arranged to ring on the backstroke of its armature when the cir cuit is broken in the customary closed-circuit systems.

D represents the regular battery constantly in circuit, which may be placed at the office of the operator who Sends out the quotationat ninety-eight and one-half cents. The quosignals, as shown in Fig. 1, or at the central station of the district-telegraph system, as is usually the case, and as shown in Fig. 2.

The quotation-indications are given.as hereinbefore stated, by separate classes of signals of widely-different character. The types of signals selected for the purpose of illustration, and which I preferin practice to employ, are the click and the buzz. The click is produced by a circuit switching key, E, placed at the quotation-operator's office, by depressing which the extra battery F is cut into the main circuit in order to augment the normal current already in circuit. The buzz is produced by a second key, G, placed at the same office, by depressing w hich the extra battery F is likewise cut into circuit, and a shunt around this extra battery is closed through the rheotome H, so that the effect of depressing this key is to. introduce the extra battery in circuit, and at the same time a circuitbreaking rheotome, which short-circuits the extra battery intermittently, and thereby causes a pulsating-current to be sent over the line without breaking the main circuit. This rheotome may be constructed in any wellknown manner, and provided with a tuning fork or reed-armature, as shown, so as to give any desired rate of vibration or tone. This 7 current is heard in the subscribers receivers as a buzzing or rattling sound, and is instantly distinguishable from the simple impulses or clicks transmitted by the key E. Both these keys are placed in such proximity to each other that they may be conveniently worked by the same operator, and they constitute in effect one transmitting apparatus. They may be provided with continuity-points arranged in the well-known way, so as to insure the closing of one circuit before breaking the other, in order to avoid even a momentary interruption of the circuit, which would affect the instrument at the central sta tion. It will now be understood that by depressing either of the keys E or G the quotation-operator, who is furnished with the requisite information, can send over the circuit either click or buzz signals, as he desires, and that these signals will consist merely of augmentations of the current normally flowing through the circuit, and will therefore not affect the central-station instruments. Both classes of signals will of course be reproduced and made audible by each receiver in the circuit. Suppose it is desired to employ this system for giving petroleum quotations, for example. For this purpose the present custom would require that the quotation should indicate, first, whether the price quoted was that at Oil City or at the subscribers city-New York, for example; second, the number of barrels sold, and, third, the price paid, which should be given within one-eighth of one cent. Suppose, for example, the quotation to be given should be two hundred and eighty-four barrels sold at Oil City tation-operator would first depress the key Or so as to transmit a buzz-signahindicating thereby that the price given refers to Oil City. He then, by depressing the key E, transmits two click-signals, then a pause, then eight more, another pause, and then four more, thus indicating the number of barrels. After an interval long enough to distinguish the price from the quantity, which should be at least twice as long as the pauses between the consecutive digits of the quantity signal, he proceeds to transmit 98% by depressing the key F nine times, then eight, and then four times, the eighths being understood. If the quotation referred to New York instead of Oil City, the quotation would be preceded by two buzz-signals instead of one, or in this case the buzz-signal inightbe omitted entirely, thus distinguishing the New York quotations from those at Oil City. \Vhen the quotation contains a 0if it be two hundred bartional signal consisting ofa certain combination of buzz-signals prearranged to denote U. P.,then he would send l00,as in the petroleum quotations given, and then 65.3 by giving six clicks, then tive, and then three, the eighths being understood. By combining these two kinds or qualities of signals in different conventional combinations the desired quotation or other piece of information, whatever it may be, wilLbe given by the transmitting-operator.

I have herein shown my invention as applied to district telegraph circuits, such as are now in extensive use in large cities. With such an arrangement it is important that signals automatically sent to the central station by the subscribers district call-boxes should not be confounded with those of the quotation service which are being constantly sent over the same circuit. To accomplish this I provide at each quotation-receiving instrument N an electric bell, C, which operates and rings whenever the circuit is being interrupted by one of the district instruments, and so warns all persons listening at the quotation-receivers IIO that the signal then being sent over the circuit 7 nals are not caused by breaks in the circuit, I

but merely by variations of the strength of the current, and therefore the'bells G are not affected by those signals. Consequently, unless the bell is ringing or begins to ring, the listener knows that the signal then audible in the receiver is a quotation. By this arrangement the district call system and the quotation system do not interfere with each others operation. Of course these bells may be dispensed with, if preferred.

In order to cut any receiving-instrument out of circuit, so as to render the signals temporaril y inaudible when desired,I provide shortcircuiting switches J J at each instrument, which may be turned by the subscriber at pleasure.

I do not confine myself to any particular mechanism for transmitting the characteristic signals over the circuit, nor to any particular form of receiving instrument for receiving the quotation or other signals. The quotationoperator may of course be located at the central station of the district system, if desired.

What I here claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The method herein described of supplying quotations or other changing information to the subscribers ofa system,consisting in transmitting over the circuit groups consisting of one or more electrical signals of one character or qualitysuch as single impulses or clicks-and also groups consisting of one or more electrical signals of a different charactersuch as buzz signals-clearly distinguishable from the others, the two kinds of signals being made to follow each other in different conventional combinations prearranged to denote the desired facts, and being made audible at subscribers offics by receiving-instruments, each of which is adapted in itself to reproduce both classes of signals, substantially as described, whereby the signals are made understandable and received without the use of automaticprinting-instruments, and the necessity of attendance is avoided.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of January, 1885.

F. BENEDICT HERZOG.

Witnesses:

E. L. WHITE, J. WALTER BLANDFORD. 

